Shawnee water is surprisingly low in dissolved metals. The lake water contains negligible amounts (much less than 100 parts per billion) of Silver, Arsenic, Barium, Beryllium, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Mercury, Nickel, Lead, Thallium, Selenium, and Antimony. Small amounts (less than 5 parts per million) of naturally occurring Aluminum, Iron, Manganese Sodium, and Zinc are also present in the lake water. The treatment process removes nearly all of these metals from the drinking water. The metals content in the drinking water is always in compliance with E.P.A. guidelines.

The gauges at the right displays the most recent Shawnee Lake No.1 and Wes Watkins level based on real time USGS data. You can view more data and information on the Shawnee Lake No 1 levels as well as view recent historical level information by visiting the USGS Shawnee lake site. Note this is an external site not managed by the City of Shawnee.

Another useful online site is the US Drought Monitor that tracks current drought conditions across the United States and can be used to visualize the current issues.

Most people are not aware that there is a USGS Shawnee Lake Weather Station set up at the Twin Lakes to record weather data for the area. Visit it to get temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and barametric pressure of the lake area.

Did you know that the average American uses 100 gallons of water every day? But we can all reduce that amount by as much as 30 gallons by taking a few simple steps, such as installing WaterSense labeled plumbing fixtures and using water efficiently in our yards.

City of Shawnee/Shawnee Municipal Authority is committed to protecting the future of our national and local water supply through water-efficient practices, products, and services. That is why we are partnering with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to bring to you WaterSense, a national program that offers people a simple way to make product choices that use less water—and perform as well or better than your existing products.
Why Should You Care?

Using water efficiently will conserve supplies for future generations.

Protecting and preserving the nation’s water supply is critical to our economic future and human health.

WaterSense labeled products and services perform as well as or better than their less efficient counterparts.

Purchasing WaterSense labeled products can help you protect the environment and help you save money on utility bills.

Test Your WaterSense

Think you know everything there is to know about water? You can’t be sure until you’ve played EPA’s “Test Your WaterSense” online quiz! Test Your Water Sense Maneuver the water-efficiency hero Hydro through water pipes and answer water-efficiency questions while avoiding water-wasting monsters such as Sogosaurus and Drainiac.

WaterSense Labeled Products

Stay tuned as WaterSense labeled products become available at a store near you! EPA maintains an online directory of labeled products Water Sense Product Index

It is our goal to provide sufficient and safe water at the lowest possible cost to the citizens of Shawnee.

The City of Shawnee utilizes the Shawnee Twin Lakes and Wes Watkins Reservoir as its raw water source. They have an estimated combined storage of 34,000 acre feet with a surface area of 2,436 acres and dependable yield of 4.3 MGD. The Wes Watkins reservoir has increased the raw water available to the community. Wes Watkins estimated storage is 11,581 acre feet of water at Normal (municipal) Pool elevations; at its flood pool elevation, the reservoir volume will be 21,869 acre feet and the surface area will be 1,640 acres. The Pottawatomie County Development Authority is the owner and developer of this project in partnership with the City of Shawnee. The dependable yield of the Wes Watkins reservoir is 4.5 MGD. Water from the three lakes will be used on a rotating basis to protect the water rights and provide for the needs of the City, PCDA and other users.

The Wastewater Collection Division, with a staff of 7 maintains 135 miles of sewer mains, and ten lift stations. This includes repair and replacement of sewer mains, manholes, and video inspection of sewer mains. One crew spends eight hours every day jet cleaning sewer mains to keep them flowing properly. This division has flushed millions of feet of sewer line over the years.

The Water Treatment Plant produces an average 4.4 million gallons of potable water each day. The water treatment facility is located on south Kickapoo near the North Canadian River. The first plant was originally built in 1895.

The Northside Wastewater Treatment Plant increased to 3.0 million gallons per day by a $3,500,000 project completed in June, 1997. The plant currently treats an average of 1.59 MGD of wastewater each day, much of which comes from the industrial area located in the northern area of Shawnee. As a part of the Northside Plant expansion a new interceptor line was installed from Wolverine Road and Harrison to the plant. That project eliminated a lift station and provided increased capacity to the industrial areas north of the plant. Improvements at the plant included two new clarifiers, increased sludge digestor capacity, a new chlorine basin and chemical building.

The Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant currently treats an average of 2.27 million gallons of wastewater each day. It has a capacity of 3.0 MGD. The Southside Treatment Plant serves the area south of the ridge line that divides the city. This includes the central business district and the major residential areas of the City. Both plants have excess capacity. The population equivalent of the treatment plants is 46,000.